University of Missouri
Illinois State
No. 20 Mizzou Defeats Illinois State in Home Opener
3/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 1, 2006
COLUMBIA, Mo. - - No. 20 Mizzou Baseball opened the home portion of its 2006 schedule with an 18-5 win over Illinois State in front of 879 fans on an unseasonably warm day that saw temperatures in the mid-70s at first pitch. Mizzou scored a run in all but one inning on its way to winning its home opener for the fifth time in the last six years.
Senior Zane Taylor continued to lead the Tigers at the plate, going 3-for-4 on the day with two RBI and two runs scored. He had a single in each of the first two innings before adding a single in the sixth inning which drove in two runs.
Junior Gary Arndt also had three hits, finishing 3-for-5 with three runs scored and one RBI. He had a double in the bottom of the fourth inning to drive in a run. Three other Tigers - sophomore Jacob Priday, junior John McKee and sophomore Evan Frey - had two-hit games against ISU.
Missouri led 7-1 after four innings before the Redbirds put up a four-run top of the fifth inning to cut the Tiger lead to two. Mizzou responded by scoring 11 runs in the next four innings.
Leading 7-5, the Tigers batted around in the sixth inning, scoring six runs in the stanza. Three of the six runs came on a three-run home run by McKee, his first homer of the season.
The 18 runs is a season high for Mizzou and is the most runs scored since its 25-0 win over Texas Tech on April 1, 2005.
Freshman Rick Zagone picked up his first career win, as he came on in relief in the fifth inning to get credit for the victory.
Mizzou continues its eight-game homestand with a three-game series with Wisconsin-Milwaukee starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Junior Max Scherzer is scheduled to take the mound for the Tigers in the series opener. The three-game set will continue with game two at 2 p.m. on Saturday and the series finale at 1 p.m. on Sunday. For tickets call 1-800-CAT-PAWS or visit mutigers.com. The game will be broadcast on KTGR 1580-AM in Columbia and on KTGR.com. Live video will also be available through Mizzou All-Access on mutigers.com.
